Carestini -Story of a Castrato: Jaroussky

Carestini: The Story of a Castrato

Philippe Jaroussky, countertenor
Le Concert d'Astree
Emmanuelle Haim, conductor

In the first half of the eighteenth century, when castrato singers were treated like today's rock superstars, Giovanni Carestini's name rivalled that of Farinelli.

If Farinelli wowed audiences with his spectacular technique, Carestini impressed with purity of sound and expressive musicality. As the German composer Hasse wrote: 'Whoever has not heard Carestini is unacquainted with the most perfect style of singing.' Hasse was just one of the major composers to create works for the singer: others included Porpora, Leo, Gluck and, perhaps most notably, Handel. All of them are represented on this CD.

The young French countertenor Philippe Jaroussky has been fascinated by Carestini for some time. As he said in an interview as long ago as 2002: 'I think it is a shame to reduce the history of castrati to Farinelli (...) There were other magnificent singers. I am especially interested in Caffarelli and Carestini.'

The celebrated flautist Quantz described Carestini thus: 'His voice was at first a beautiful and clear soprano, which afterwards changed into the fullest, finest and deepest countertenor that has perhaps ever been heard.' Today, the unforced beauty of Jaroussky's tone and the refinement of his singing have captured the imagination of audiences around the world, with his recent recording of Vivaldi opera arias selling more than 70,000 copies in France alone.

Jaroussky originally trained as a violinist - David Oistrakh, along with Maria Callas, remains one of his musical idols ? but he discovered his natural talent as a countertenor as soon as he started singing lessons at the age of eighteen. His technique is astounding, but what matters to him is what the music expresses. From the world of popular music he admires figures like Jacques Brel, Edith Piaf and Ella Fitzgerald for 'the way they use their vocalism and how they evoke emotion through the voice alone: these are artists who could recite the phone book and make it a touching experience!'

With this tribute to Carestini, 'the idea is to experience his way of working with different repertoire, his rhythm of work, his ability to respond to the endless stream of new music from the composers of his time. Put another way, to see to what extent an interpreter can influence a composer like Handel (...) and how the composer could be inspired by the timbre of a voice, a vocal colour, a presence and a personality.'